Predictive Patient to Medical Treatment Matching System and Method

ABSTRACT

A predictive system and method for using a physician&#39;s existing patient database to more effectively and efficiently identify potential candidates for medical treatments or clinical research trials. The system and method includes an automated three-tiered qualification process using information about a specific medical treatment received from a company looking for potential candidates for the medical treatment wherein potential candidates are initially prequalified by comparing the information about the medical treatment to the information contained in a physician&#39;s patient database. The potential candidates that are identified by the first tier of the qualification process then answer additional questions from a patient screening survey. Finally, additional questions from a physician consultation questionnaire are completed by the referring physician&#39;s office. If a potential candidate passes all three tiers of qualification, the potential candidate is then passed to the company looking for potential candidates for the medical treatment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the field of healthcare. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to a predictive system andmethod for using a physician's existing client base to more effectivelyand efficiently identify potential candidates for new or little knownmedical treatments or clinical research trials.

Within the health care industry, and in particular within the field ofclinical research, there is a need for a more effective process toidentify and place candidates for clinical research trials to try newand improved products and services, including but not limited to newand/or potentially improved pharmaceutical products, medical devices,and procedures. Clinical trials are typically research studies conductedon volunteers to study the effectiveness of a new or improved medicalproduct or service. The sponsor is typically the manufacturer of a drugor medical device and funds the clinical study, often as part of its FDAapproval process. Sponsors can include pharmaceutical companies,clinical research organizations, medical device manufacturers, and sitemanagement organizations. An investigator is typically a researchphysician or group of physicians that actually conducts the clinicaltrial for the sponsor.

Volunteers that participate in a given clinical trial must meet certaincriteria established by the sponsor and/or the investigator. Samplecriteria may include type of disease, previous treatment history, othermedical conditions that may be affected by participation in the study,age, and gender. Whether or not certain criteria are inclusive orexclusive typically depends on the nature of the clinical trial itself.Volunteers are carefully advised of the details of the clinical trial toensure that they aware of both the positive potential impacts ofparticipating in the study as well as the negative potential impacts ofparticipating in the study.

Volunteers may participate in the clinical trial for various reasons,such as an opportunity to gain access to treatments that they otherwisecould not because they are not on the market, have not been approved bythe FDA, or could not afford, they may be motivated by the desire tocontribute to medical research, or may simply be motivated toparticipate because of the money they are paid to participate.

It has been reported that the cost to bring a new drug to market can beone billion dollars. Because only approximately one in ten drugs areever approved for market by the FDA, adjusting that number for currentfailure rates results in an estimated four billion dollars in researchspent for every drug that is approved. A single clinical trial can costone hundred million dollars. As a result, pharmaceutical companies mustemploy more effective and efficient methods of conducting clinicaltrials.

According to a Tufts University study, a pharmaceutical company can loseover a million dollars per day in lost drug sales for each day aclinical study is not complete. The clinical trial process can be slowand one of the main reasons is the time it takes to find a suitablepopulation for the study. Sufficiently populating a clinical trial oftentakes more than a year and represents more than 25% of the entire lengthof the study lifecycle.

In addition to clinical trials, pharmaceutical companies, medical devicemanufacturers, and the like are constantly developing, improving, anddiscovering new medical treatments for medical conditions that may notbe well known for the treatment of a certain condition. For example,some pharmaceutical products are not well known within the medicalcommunity because they are very expensive and, as such, are seldom used.However, there are often occasions when these drugs are highly effectivefor a certain condition but the medical provider is not familiar withthe drug. There may be other instances where a medical device can beused to treat a condition but the device is not well known because FDAapproval was not required. The medical device manufacturers have a needto identify potential candidates for its device and make the medicalproviders aware of its potential use.

2. Description of Related Art

A review of related art identifies various techniques that are currentlyused to identify suitable potential candidates for new or little knownmedical treatments or to participate in a clinical trial. The company orinvestigator may place advertisements, using various media such asnewspaper, radio commercials, billboards, interact advertising, and thelike, to find or solicit potential candidates. Information materials mayalso be given to specialist physicians for a related area of the medicaltreatment or clinical trial or to support groups for a specificcondition. Success rates using these traditional methods are typicallypoor due to the inability to reach a large pool of potentially qualifiedcandidates, and those that may be interested and do respond often do notmeet the criteria to participate in the study.

Physicians are also often involved in referring patients to clinicaltrials. However, successful referral rates from physicians are notoptimal either because physicians are usually extremely busy and havelittle time to study available clinical trials and assure their patientsmeet the necessary criteria for participation in a clinical trial.

In order to improve upon these traditional methods of identifyingpotential candidates for new or little known medical treatments orclinical research trials, various business efficiencies have beenemployed. For clinical trials, some use an online web-based system toscreen potential candidates and match those candidates with variousclinical research trials that the user may be qualified for. However,while these systems do improve upon the traditional methods to identifyand recruit potential candidates for clinical research trials, theseinternet sites typically rely on information from a single source thatdoes not have access to all information.

For example, some of these systems are directed to investigators andtheir database of patients they have worked with in the past. However,the investigator's information for its past patients is going to bestale and only specific to the clinical research trial that a patientmay have been involved with in the past.

Other existing systems have the potential candidate complete a patientquestionnaire to build a profile that will be compared against specificcriteria for a clinical research trial. However, the potentialcandidates themselves will not know specific medical information such asthe calcium level of a specific lab they had completed. This informationis often kept with the physician.

Still other systems are directed toward physicians who are specialistsin the area that is relevant to the clinical trial, such as anoncologist for clinical research trials involving cancer patients. Thesephysicians typically depend on referrals from primary care physiciansafter a patient has been diagnosed, are treating patients with thelatest technology that they have, and are extremely busy and have littletime to fill out patient questionnaires. Further, these physicianscannot answer candidate specific questions such as whether a candidateplans on getting pregnant in the next six months.

A need exists, therefore, for an efficient and effective method andsystem to identify qualified potential candidates for new or littleknown medical treatments or clinical trials. A need also exists for amethod and system of providing pertinent information related to theidentified potential candidate such as answers to questions specific tothe medical treatment or clinical trial, general demographicinformation, medical history, and medical records. A need also existsfor a method and system to provide a more targeted search that willresult in a higher percentage of qualified potential candidates for aspecific medical treatment or clinical trial. The presented inventionand embodiments thereof satisfy these needs.

All references cited herein are incorporated by reference to the maximumextent allowable by law. To the extent a reference may not be fullyincorporated herein, it is incorporated by reference for backgroundpurposes and indicative of the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in theart.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The problems presented are solved by the systems and methods of thepresent invention. In accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention, a predictive system and method for using a physician'sexisting client base to more effectively and efficiently identifypotential candidates for a specific medical treatment is provided. Morespecifically, the invention is directed to a method that includes athree-tiered qualification process that may be automated usinginformation about a specific medical treatment, which may include aclinical research trial, received from a company looking for potentialcandidates for the medical treatment. Potential candidates are initiallyprequalified by comparing the information about the medical treatmentreceived from the company looking for potential candidates to theinformation contained in a physician's patient database. The potentialcandidates that are identified as likely candidates by the first tier ofthe qualification process then answer additional questions from apatient screening survey. The answers from the patient screening surveyare then scored and those candidates that meet the required score moveto the third tier of the qualification process. Additional questionsfrom a physician consultation questionnaire about the potentialcandidates that remain are then provided to and answered by thepotential candidates' referring physician's office. If a potentialcandidate passes through all three tiers of qualification, the potentialcandidate is then passed to the company looking for potential candidatesfor the medical treatment or clinical trial. This first embodiment ofthe present invention responds to the need to more effectively identifypotential candidates for new or little known medical treatments orclinical research trials.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, themethod described above can be embodied in computer executable softwarecode. This embodiment of the present invention responds to the need tomore efficiently identify potential candidates for new or little knownmedical treatments or clinical research trials.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, themethod and computer executable software code described above can becombined with a server and its components, a company's system, aphysician's system that includes a patient database, and a patient'ssystem, all connected to a network, to provide a system for identifyingpotential candidates for a specific medical treatment, which may includea clinical research trial. This embodiment of the present inventionresponds to the need to more effectively and efficiently identifypotential candidates for new or little known medical treatments orclinical research trials.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent with reference to the drawings and detailed descriptionthat follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system in accordancewith an illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method in accordancewith an illustrative embodiment of the present invention

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

All references cited herein are incorporated by reference to the maximumextent allowable by law. To the extent a reference may not be fullyincorporated herein, it is incorporated by reference for backgroundpurposes and indicative of the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in theart.

In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments,reference may be made to the accompanying drawings which form a parthereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific preferredembodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodimentsare described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the invention, and it is understood that other embodiments maybe utilized and that logical changes may be made without departing fromthe spirit or scope of the invention. To avoid detail not necessary toenable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, thedescription may omit certain information known to those skilled in theart. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be takenin a limiting sense.

The present disclosure relates to a predictive system and method forusing a physician's existing patient database to more effectively andefficiently identify potential candidates for a specific medicaltreatment. In the context of the present invention, a medical treatmentincludes any indication of a substance or technique used in treating ahealth-related condition, including but not limited to new or littleknown medical procedures or pharmaceutical products, clinical researchtrials, new indications for existing pharmaceutical products, newbiologics, orphan drugs, new surgical treatments, new medical devices,research on the effectiveness of a vitamin supplement, and the like. Themethod includes a three-tiered qualification process using informationabout a specific medical treatment and (1) comparing that information tothe patient records contained in a referring physician's patientdatabase, (2) for those potential candidates that pass the first tier ofthe qualification process, receiving additional information directlyfrom the potential candidate, and (3) for those potential candidatesthat have passed the first two tiers of the qualification process,receiving additional information from the potential candidate'sreferring physician's office.

The information about a specific medical treatment is received from acompany looking for potential candidates for the medical treatment. Inthe context of the present invention, a company includes any entity,including organizations and individuals, looking for potentialcandidates for a medical treatment, including but not limited tocontract research organizations, pharmaceutical and biotechnologymanufacturers, medical device manufacturers, healthcare researchers, andthe like. Potential candidates are initially prequalified by comparingthe information about the medical treatment received from the companylooking for potential candidates to the information contained in aphysician's patient database. The potential candidates that areidentified as likely candidates by the first tier of the qualificationprocess then answer additional questions from a patient screeningsurvey. The answers from the patient screening survey are then scoredand those candidates that meet the required score move to the third tierof the qualification process. Additional questions from a physicianconsultation questionnaire about the potential candidates that remainare then provided to and answered by the potential candidates' referringphysician's office. If a potential candidate passes through all threetiers of qualification, the potential candidate is then referred to thecompany looking for potential candidates for the medical treatment.

Computer executable software code written according to the method aboveprovides another embodiment of the present invention.

The method and computer executable software code can be combined with aserver and its components, a company's system, a physician's system thatincludes a patient database, and a patient's system, all connected to anetwork, to provide another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the figures, FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating anexemplary system in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of thepresent invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplarymethod in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the presentinvention.

Describing an embodiment of the present invention as a systemillustrates both the systems and methods to more effectively andefficiently identify potential candidates for a specific medicaltreatment of the present invention. A server 101 contains read-onlymemory 103 and random access memory 105 as well as a central processingunit 107. An interactive voice response system 109 and computerexecutable software code 111, as well as storage device 113, reside onthe server 101. A database 115 is stored on the storage device 113 andcontains certain records relating to a specific medical treatment. Therecords include a medical treatment specific query record 117, a medicaltreatment specific patient screening survey record 119, a medicaltreatment specific physician consultation questionnaire record 121, amedical treatment specific patient information record 123, and a medicaltreatment specific physician information record 125. The server 101 isconnected to a network 127.

In step 201, a company looking for potential candidates for a specificmedical treatment connects to the server 101 through the network 127using the company's system 129. The medical treatment could be anymedical treatment for which a company is looking for potential patients,such as a new indication of an existing pharmaceutical product, a newmedical device, a new surgical treatment, a clinical trial for a newpharmaceutical product, medical device, or medical treatment, or thelike. The computer executable software code 111 guides the company toenter specified information about the medical treatment that the companyis recruiting potential candidates for. The specified information couldinclude the name of the condition to be treated, an Institutional ReviewBoard approved description of the medical treatment, inclusion andexclusion criteria for the potential candidates, patient compensation,referral compensation, information about the specific medical treatmentfor the referring physicians, geographic locations of available sitesfor the medical treatment, and the like.

In step 203, the administrator of the server 101 accesses theinformation about the specific medical treatment that has been input bythe company and, after reviewing the information for completeness andapproving the information, launches computer executable software code111 that automatically creates the following records based on theinformation received from the company: a medical treatment specificquery record 117, a medical treatment specific patient screening surveyrecord 119, a medical treatment specific physician consultationquestionnaire record 121, a medical treatment specific patientinformation record 123, and a medical treatment specific physicianinformation record 125. These records are stored in the database 115 onthe server 101. The computer executable software code 111 applies ascore to each of the possible answers to the patient screening survey.

In step 205, a referring physician's office connects to the server 101through the network 127 using the referring physician's system 131. Thereferring physician's system 131 includes the physician's patientdatabase. The referring physician then browses the physician informationrecords 125 to search for a specific medical treatment to recruit for.The physician information records 125 could including location,specialties, compensation, whether the physician has participated inrecruiting potential candidates for a related medical treatment orcompany, benefits for said potential patient, cost of said medicaltreatment, whether said medical treatment is new or a new indication ofa known medical treatment and the like. The computer executable softwarecode 111 allows the referring physician to sort the available medicaltreatments based on the information in the physician information records125. Once the referring physician finds a specific medical treatmentthat he is interested in recruiting potential patients for, thereferring physician selects the specific medical treatment. Bycollecting and sorting information about the specific medical treatmentthe physician is only shown medical treatments that he is likely to beinterested in and is eligible to recruit for. In another embodiment ofthe present invention, this matching algorithm can be used to recommendmedical treatments to referring physicians on a weekly basis.

Step 207 begins the first of three tiers in the qualification system andmethod of identifying potential candidates and/or patients for a medicaltreatment. In step 207, after the referring physician's office selects aspecific medical treatment an applet is launched that runs in thebrowser of the referring physician's system 131. The applet connects tothe patient database residing on the referring physician's system 131and accesses the medical treatment specific query record 117 relating tothe specific medical treatment that the referring physician's office hasselected. Using the medical treatment specific query record 117, theapplet runs the query on the referring physician's patient database andcompares the patient records in the patient database with the inclusionand exclusion criteria for the specific medical treatment contained inthe medical treatment specific query 117. The applet then returns thepatient records from the patient database that match the inclusion andexclusion criteria through the network 127 to the server 101 and storesthe patient records in the database 115.

In another embodiment of the present invention, there may be patientsfrom the physician's patient database that have already been askedwhether they want to be contacted about participating in new medicaltreatments. If the patient has previously declined, this can be noted inthe patient record on the database so that, if the patient is a matchfor a future medical treatment, even though the patient is identifiedthey will not be contacted with regards to future medical treatments.

In another embodiment of the present invention, after the referringphysician's office selects a specific medical treatment, rather thanlaunching an applet that runs in the browser of the referringphysician's system 131, a secure connection is made between the patientdatabase residing on the referring physician's system 131 and the server101. The computer executable software code 111 then accesses the medicaltreatment specific query record 117 and runs the query on the referringphysician's patient database, storing those patient records that matchthe inclusion and exclusion criteria on the server 101 in the database115.

In step 209, the computer executable software code 111 comparesinformation obtained from the patient record of the referringphysician's patient database with questions from the medical treatmentspecific patient screening survey record 119 and the medical treatmentspecific physician consultation questionnaire record 121. The Computerexecutable software code 111 then dynamically completes those fields inthe medical treatment specific patient screening survey record 119 andthe medical treatment specific physician consultation questionnairerecord 121 that match information from the patient record.

In step 211, the referring physician's office accesses the server 101over the network 127 using the referring physician's system 131 and ispresented with the patients associated with the patient records storedon the server 101 that have passed the first tier of the qualificationprocess from the referring physician's patient database. The referringphysician's office then contacts a patient to inquire whether thepatient is interested in learning more about the specific medicaltreatment for which the patient has passed the first tier of thequalification process. If the patient is interested in continuing in thequalification process, the referring physician's office then transfersthe patient to an interactive voice response system 109. If the patientdeclines, the referring physician's office updates the patient record onthe server 101. The patient record associated with this patient willcontain a record so that if this patient qualifies for a specificmedical treatment in the future, the patient record will not bepresented to the referring physician's office.

Step 213 begins the second of three tiers in the qualification systemand method of identifying potential candidates and/or patients for amedical treatment. In step 213, once the patient has been connected withthe interactive voice response system 109, the patient completes themedical treatment specific patient screening survey. The interactivevoice response system 109 accesses the medical treatment specificpatient screening survey record 119 and asks the patient all questionsthat remain unanswered, or unmatched from the dynamically completedinformation from step 209. As the patient answers questions through theinteractive voice response system 109, the interactive voice responsesystem 109 fills in the unanswered/unmatched questions on the medicaltreatment specific patient screening survey record 119 and the medicaltreatment specific physician consultation questionnaire record 121 andstores these updated records in the database 115 on the server 101.

In another embodiment of the present invention, instead of transferringthe patient to an interactive voice response system 109 connected to theserver 101, the referring physician's office directs the patient to awebsite hosted on the server 101. The patient connects to the websitehosted on the server 101 through the network 127 using a browser on thepatient's system 133. The patient is then presented all of the questionsthat remain unanswered from the medical treatment specific patientscreening survey record 119, or the unmatched fields from thedynamically completed information from step 209. The patient thenanswers the unanswered/unmatched questions and the answers are sentthrough the network 127 to the server 101, where the medical treatmentspecific patient screening survey record 119 and the medical treatmentspecific physician consultation questionnaire record 121 are updated inthe database 115 and stored on the server 101.

In step 215, the computer executable software code 111 then scores theupdated medical treatment specific patient screening survey record 119and those patients that meet the predetermined required score arescheduled for a consultation with the referring physician's office.

In another embodiment of the present invention, those patients that donot meet the predetermined required score are notified that they did notmeet the qualifications for the specific medical treatment. This may bedone by one or more methods, including notifying the patient through theinteractive voice response system 109, sending the patient an email,sending the patient a letter, having the physician's office contact thepatient, and the like.

Step 217 begins the third of three tiers in the qualification system andmethod of identifying potential candidates and/or patients for a medicaltreatment. In step 215, when the patient arrives at the referringphysician's office for a consultation, the physician or suitable staffmember, using the referring physician's system 131, connects to theserver 101 over the network 127 and is presented with the medicaltreatment specific physician consultation questionnaire that is derivedfrom the medical treatment specific physician consultation questionnairerecord 121. During the consultation, the physician or suitable staffmember views the information that has been completed to date andcompletes the unanswered questions, or unmatched fields in the medicaltreatment specific physician consultation questionnaire record 121. Theupdated answers are then sent to the server 101 and stored in thedatabase 115. This is the opportunity for the physician to enterinformation which the patient would not know, such as a specific labtest result, and that was not able to be queried because it was notstructured data, was a scanned in document, or was not mapped correctly.

In step 219, the computer executable software code 111 then sends thepatient record associated with the patients that have passed thethree-tiered qualification process to the company looking for potentialcandidates for the specific medical treatment. Information sent to thecompany may include the medical treatment specific patient screeningsurvey, medical treatment specific physician consultation questionnaire,as well as a Continuity of Care Document or Continuity of Care Recordthat contains the patient's medical records. This can potentially savethe researcher a lot of money as they will not have to do redundanttests and will have access to the patient's verified medical info.

In another embodiment of the present invention, those patients that havenot passed all three tiers of the qualification process are notifiedthat they did not meet the qualifications for the specific medicaltreatment. This may be done by one or more methods, including notifyingthe patient by sending the patient an email, sending the patient aletter, having the physician's office contact the patient, and the like.

The primary advantage of the present invention is to more effectivelyand efficiently identify potential candidates for a medical treatment,which includes clinical research trials, using a three-tieredqualification process.

Another advantage of the present invention is that the three-tieredqualification process collects more information by collectinginformation from patient records, the patient themselves, as well asensuring any remaining questions are answered through the physicianconsultation. The present invention also ensures that the informationcollected is accurate by involving the patient and the referringphysician. The present invention uses a combination of automated query,survey, and questionnaire to gather the information needed and moreefficiently and effectively find qualified candidates.

For example, for a specific medical treatment three of the criteria todetermine eligibility for a specific medical treatment may be: (1) thepatient must be diagnosed with asthma, (2) the patient cannot intend toget pregnant during the course of the treatment, and (3) a free calciumlevel of no more than 4.8. The patient will know if they have beendiagnosed with asthma and the diagnosis can typically be found in theelectronic health records from a physician's patient database. However,the physician's patient database is not going to know whether thepatient intends on getting pregnant. The present invention solves thisby involving the patient in the process and collecting this informationdirectly from the patient. A patient's free calcium level is usuallycontained in a lab test result, which would not be able to be queriedbecause lab test results are typically stored in PDF documents. Further,a patient is not likely to know their free calcium level. The presentinvention solves this by involving the referring physician where he canenter this data during the patient consultation.

Another advantage of the present invention is only asking a questionfrom the patient screening survey or the physician consultationquestionnaire if the answer has not been collected from some othersource, such as from the patient's medical record contained in thephysician's patient database or from the patient himself.

Even though many of the examples discussed herein are applications ofthe present invention in relation to new or little known medicaltreatments, which includes clinical research trials, the presentinvention also can be applied to other types of medical treatments,including but not limited to new indications for existing pharmaceuticalproducts, new biologics, orphan drugs, new surgical treatments, newmedical devices, research on the effectiveness of a vitamin supplement,and the like.

One skilled in the art will see that the present invention can beapplied in many areas where there is a need to more effectively andefficiently identify potential candidates for a specific medicaltreatment.

It should be apparent from the foregoing that an invention havingsignificant advantages has been provided. While the invention is shownin only a few of its forms, it is not just limited but is susceptible tovarious changes and modifications without departing from the spiritthereof.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for matching patients with aspecific medical treatment comprising: receiving specified informationabout a specific medical treatment from a company looking for potentialcandidates for said specific medical treatment at a server, wherein saidspecified information about said specific medical treatment isdetermined by a software application residing on said server andprovided by said company over a network by said company's system;accessing said specified information about said specific medicaltreatment on said server by the administrator of said server, whereinsaid administrator approves said specified information about saidspecific medical treatment and thereinafter creates a medical treatmentspecific query record based on said specified information about saidspecific medical treatment that includes inclusion and exclusioncriteria, a medical treatment specific patient screening survey recordbased on said specified information about said specific medicaltreatment, a medical treatment specific physician consultationquestionnaire record based on said specified information about saidspecific medical treatment, a medical treatment specific patientinformation record based on said specified information about saidspecific medical treatment, and a medical treatment specific physicianinformation record based on said specified information about saidspecific medical treatment; browsing said medical treatment specificphysician information records using a browser connected to the system ofa reaming physician's office to connect to said server through saidnetwork, wherein said system of a referring physician's office includesa patient database; selecting at least one said specific medicaltreatment; launching an applet from said server, wherein said appletruns in said browser, connects to said patient database, and accessessaid medical treatment specific query record relating to said selectedmedical treatment; using the medical treatment specific query record,querying said patient database, wherein said applet runs said medicaltreatment specific query and compares patient records in said patientdatabase with said inclusion and exclusion criteria of said medicaltreatment specific query, returning said patient records from saidpatient database that match said inclusion and exclusion criteria ofsaid medical treatment specific query through said network to saidserver and storing said patient records on said server; comparing saidpatient record with said medical treatment specific patient screeningsurvey record and said medical treatment specific physician consultationquestionnaire record and completing fields in said medical treatmentspecific patient screening survey record and said medical treatmentspecific physician consultation questionnaire record that matchinformation from said patient record; contacting a patient associatedwith said patient records stored on said server by accessing saidpatient records through said network on said system of referringphysician's office, wherein said referring physician's office contactssaid patient to inquire whether said patient is interested in learningmore about said medical treatment, wherein if said patient declines,said patient record is updated by said referring physician's officethrough said network using said system of referring physician's office,wherein if said patient accepts, said patient is transferred to aninteractive voice response system connected to said server; completingthe medical treatment specific patient screening survey, wherein saidinteractive voice response system accesses said medical treatmentspecific patient screening survey record and asks said patient unmatchedquestions from said medical treatment specific patient screening survey,wherein said patient answers said unmatched questions and said answersare sent through said interactive voice response system to said server,wherein said medical treatment specific patient screening survey recordand said medical treatment specific physician consultation questionnairerecord are updated and stored on said server; scoring answers in saidmedical treatment specific patient screening survey record using saidsoftware application and scheduling said patient that has apredetermined minimum score for a consultation with said referringphysician's office; completing the medical treatment specific physicianconsultation questionnaire record, wherein said patient visits saidreferring physician's office and personnel from said referringphysician's office accesses said medical treatment specific physicianconsultation questionnaire record using a browser connected to saidsystem of said referring physician's office to connect to said serverthrough said network, wherein said personnel completes answers to saidmedical treatment physician consultation questionnaire and sends thoseanswers to said server using a browser connected to the system of areferring physician's office to connect to said server through saidnetwork, wherein said medical treatment specific physician consultationquestionnaire record is updated and stored on said server; and sendingsaid patient record to said company looking for potential candidates forsaid specific medical treatment using said software application.
 2. Themethod according to claim 1 wherein: said specified information includesthe name of the condition to be treated by said specific medicaltreatment, an Institutional Review Board approved description of saidspecific medical treatment, inclusion and exclusion criteria for saidpotential candidates for said specific medical treatment, patientcompensation for said potential candidates for said specific medicaltreatment, information about said specific medical treatment forreferring physicians, and available sites for said medical treatment. 3.The method according to claim 1 wherein: said medical treatment specificphysician information record contains information about said specificmedical treatment including location, specialties, compensation, whetherthe physician has participated in recruiting potential candidates for arelated medical treatment or company, benefits for said potentialpatient, cost of said medical treatment, whether said medical treatmentis new or a new indication of a known medical treatment, wherein thisinformation can be sorted based on input from said physician to assistin the search of relevant medical treatment specific physicianinformation records.
 4. The method according to claim 1 wherein: in saidaccessing step, said administrator enables said software application onsaid server to automatically create said medical treatment specificquery record based on said specified information about said specificmedical treatment that includes inclusion and exclusion criteria, saidmedical treatment specific patient screening survey record based on saidspecified information about said specific medical treatment, saidmedical treatment specific physician consultation questionnaire recordbased on said specified information about said specific medicaltreatment, said medical treatment specific patient information recordbased on said specified information about said specific medicaltreatment, and said medical treatment specific physician informationrecord based on said specified information about said specific medicaltreatment.
 5. The method according to claim 1 wherein: said contactingstep is replaced with the following: contacting a patient associatedwith said patient records stored on said server by accessing saidpatient records through said network on said system of referringphysician's office, wherein said referring physician's office contactssaid patient to inquire whether said patient is interested in learningmore about said medical treatment, wherein if said patient declines,said patient record is updated by said referring physician's officethrough said network using said system of referring physician's office,wherein if said patient accepts, said patient is directed to a websitehosted on said server, wherein said patient connects to said websitehosted on said server through said network using a browser on saidpatient's system; said completing the medical treatment specific patientscreening survey step is replaced with the following: completing themedical treatment specific patient screening survey, wherein saidpatient is presented through said patient's browser said unmatchedquestions to said medical treatment specific patient screening surveyrecord, wherein said patient then answers said unmatched questions andthe answers are sent through said network to said server, wherein saidmedical treatment specific patient screening survey record and saidmedical treatment specific physician consultation questionnaire recordare updated and stored on said server;
 6. The method according to claim1 wherein: said launching step is replaced with the following: securelyconnecting said server to said system of a referring physician's office,wherein said software application connects to said patient database andtransfers patient records from said patient database to said sever; saidusing step is replaced with the following: querying said patient recordsstored on said server, wherein said software application runs saidmedical treatment specific query and compares patient records stored onsaid server with said inclusion and exclusion criteria of said medicaltreatment specific query;
 7. The method according to claim 1 comprisingthe additional step of: notifying said patient that has not qualifiedfor said specific medical treatment that said patient did not meet thequalifications for the specific medical treatment.
 8. Computerexecutable software code stored on a computer readable medium performinga method for matching patients with a specific medical treatment,comprising: receiving specified information about a specific medicaltreatment from a company looking for potential candidates for saidspecific medical treatment at a server, wherein said specifiedinformation about said specific medical treatment is determined by apredefined form within said computer executable software code stored onsaid computer readable medium and provided by said company over anetwork by said company's system; accessing said specified informationabout said specific medical treatment on said server by theadministrator of said server, wherein said administrator approves saidspecified information about said specific medical treatment using saidcomputer executable software code stored on said computer readablemedium and creating a medical treatment specific query record based onsaid specified information about said specific medical treatment thatincludes inclusion and exclusion criteria, a medical treatment specificpatient screening survey record based on said specified informationabout said specific medical treatment, a medical treatment specificphysician consultation questionnaire record based on said specifiedinformation about said specific medical treatment, a medical treatmentspecific patient information record based on said specified informationabout said specific medical treatment, and a medical treatment specificphysician information record based on said specified information aboutsaid specific medical treatment; browsing said medical treatmentspecific physician information records using a browser connected to thesystem of a referring physician's office to connect to said serverthrough said network, wherein said system of a referring physician'soffice includes a patient database; selecting at least one said specificmedical treatment; launching an applet from said server, wherein saidapplet runs in said browser, connects to said patient database, andaccesses said medical treatment specific query record relating to saidselected medical treatment; using the medical treatment specific queryrecord, querying said patient database, wherein said applet runs saidmedical treatment specific query and compares patient records in saidpatient database with said inclusion and exclusion criteria of saidmedical treatment specific query, returning said patient records fromsaid patient database that match said inclusion and exclusion criteriaof said medical treatment specific query through said network to saidserver and storing said patient records on said server; comparing saidpatient record with said medical treatment specific patient screeningsurvey record and said medical treatment specific physician consultationquestionnaire record and completing fields in said medical treatmentspecific patient screening survey record and said medical treatmentspecific physician consultation questionnaire record that matchinformation from said patient record; contacting a patient associatedwith said patient records stored on said server by accessing saidpatient records through said network on said system of referringphysician's office, wherein said referring physician's office contactssaid patient to inquire whether said patient is interested in learningmore about said medical treatment, wherein if said patient declines,said patient record is updated by said referring physician's officethrough said network using said system of referring physician's office,wherein if said patient accepts, said patient is transferred to aninteractive voice response system connected to said server; completingthe medical treatment specific patient screening survey, wherein saidinteractive voice response system accesses said medical treatmentspecific patient screening survey record and asks said patient unmatchedquestions from said medical treatment specific patient screening survey,wherein said patient answers said unmatched questions and said answersare sent through said interactive voice response system to said server,wherein said medical treatment specific patient screening survey recordand said medical treatment specific physician consultation questionnairerecord are updated and stored on said server; scoring answers in saidmedical treatment specific patient screening survey record using saidcomputer executable software code stored on said computer readablemedium and scheduling said patient that has a predetermined minimumscore for a consultation with said referring physician's office;completing the medical treatment specific physician consultationquestionnaire record, wherein said patient visits said referringphysician's office and personnel from said referring physician's officeaccesses said medical treatment specific physician consultationquestionnaire record using a browser connected to said system of saidreferring physician's office to connect to said server through saidnetwork, wherein said personnel completes answers to said medicaltreatment physician consultation questionnaire and sends those answersto said server using a browser connected to the system of a referringphysician's office to connect to said server through said network,wherein said medical treatment specific physician consultationquestionnaire record is updated and stored on said server; sending saidpatient record to said company looking for potential candidates for saidspecific medical treatment.
 9. The computer executable software code ofclaim 8, wherein: said specified information includes the name of thecondition to be treated by said specific medical treatment, anInstitutional Review Board approved description of said specific medicaltreatment, inclusion and exclusion criteria for said potentialcandidates for said specific medical treatment, patient compensation forsaid potential candidates for said specific medical treatment,information about said specific medical treatment for referringphysicians, and available sites for said medical treatment.
 10. Thecomputer executable software code of claim 8, wherein: said medicaltreatment specific physician information record contains informationabout said specific medical treatment including location, specialties,compensation, whether the physician has participated in recruitingpotential candidates for a related medical treatment or company,benefits for said potential patient, cost of said medical treatment,whether said medical treatment is new or a new indication of a knownmedical treatment, that can be sorted using the computer executablesoftware code based on input from said physician to assist in the searchof relevant medical treatment specific physician information records.11. The computer executable software code of claim 8, wherein: saidpatient that has not qualified for said specific medical treatment isnotified that they did not meet the qualifications for said specificmedical treatment.
 12. computer executable software code of claim 8wherein: said computer executable software code securely connects saidserver to said system of a referring physician's office, wherein saidsoftware application connects to said patient database and transferspatient records from said patient database to said sever.
 13. A systemfor matching patients with a specific medical treatment comprising: aserver connected to a network; a data storage device located on saidserver; computer executable software code and a database located on saidstorage device; a system of a company looking for potential candidatesfor a specific medical treatment, wherein said company providesspecified information about said specific medical treatment over saidnetwork which is stored in said database, wherein said specifiedinformation about said specific medical treatment is determined by saidcomputer executable software code; computer executable software code onsaid server that creates a medical treatment specific query record basedon said specified information about said specific medical treatment thatincludes inclusion and exclusion criteria, a medical treatment specificpatient screening survey record based on said specified informationabout said specific medical treatment, a medical treatment specificphysician consultation questionnaire record based on said specifiedinformation about said specific medical treatment, a medical treatmentspecific patient information record based on said specified informationabout said specific medical treatment, and a medical treatment specificphysician information record based on said specified information aboutsaid specific medical treatment; a system of a referring physician'soffice connected to said network that includes a patient database and abrowser, wherein said system is used to review and select a specificmedical treatment specific physician information record, and whereinsaid medical treatment specific physician consultation questionnairerecord is updated using said browser connected to said system to connectto said server through said network, wherein personnel from saidreferring physician's office completes answers to said medical treatmentspecific physician consultation questionnaire and sends those answers tosaid server using a browser connected to said system of a referringphysician's office to connect to said server through said network,wherein said medical treatment specific physician consultationquestionnaire record is updated and stored in said database; an appletfrom said server, wherein said applet runs in said browser, connects tosaid patient database, and accesses said medical treatment specificquery record relating to said selected medical treatment, wherein saidapplet uses said medical treatment specific query record to query saidpatient database, wherein said query compares patient records in saidpatient database with said inclusion and exclusion criteria, of saidmedical treatment specific query, returning said patient records fromsaid patient database that match said inclusion and exclusion criteriaof said medical treatment specific query through said network to saidserver and storing said patient records is said database; computerexecutable software code that compares said patient record with saidmedical treatment specific patient screening survey record and saidmedical treatment specific physician consultation questionnaire recordand completes fields in said medical treatment specific patientscreening survey record and said medical treatment specific physicianconsultation questionnaire record that match information from saidpatient record; an interactive voice response system connected to saidserver to which a patient associated with said patient record completessaid medical treatment specific patient screening survey, wherein saidinteractive voice response system accesses said medical treatmentspecific patient screening survey record and asks said patient unmatchedquestions from said medical treatment specific patient screening survey,wherein said patient answers said unmatched questions and said answersare sent through said interactive voice response system to said server,wherein said medical treatment specific patient screening survey recordand said medical treatment specific physician consultation questionnairerecord are updated and stored in said database; computer executablesoftware code that scores answers in said medical treatment specificpatient screening survey record and schedules said patient that has apredetermined minimum score for a consultation with said referringphysician's office; computer executable software code that sends saidpatient record to said company looking for potential candidates for saidspecific medical treatment.
 14. The system according to claim 13wherein: said specified information includes the name of the conditionto be treated by said specific medical treatment, an InstitutionalReview Board approved description of said specific medical treatment,inclusion and exclusion criteria for said potential candidates for saidspecific medical treatment, patient compensation for said potentialcandidates for said specific medical treatment, information about saidspecific medical treatment for referring physicians, and available sitesfor said medical treatment.
 15. The system according to claim 13wherein: said medical treatment specific physician information recordcontains information about said specific medical treatment includinglocation, specialties, compensation, whether the physician hasparticipated in recruiting potential candidates for a related medicaltreatment or company, benefits for said potential patient, cost of saidmedical treatment, whether said medical treatment is new or a newindication of a known medical treatment, that can be sorted using saidcomputer executable software code based on input from said physician toassist in the search of relevant medical treatment specific physicianinformation records.
 16. The system according to claim 13 furthercomprising: a system of a patient that includes a browser that isconnected to said network, wherein said patient is presented throughsaid patient's browser said unmatched questions to said medicaltreatment specific patient screening survey record, wherein said patientthen answers said unmatched questions and the answers are sent throughsaid network to said server, wherein said medical treatment specificpatient screening survey record and said medical treatment specificphysician consultation questionnaire record are updated and stored insaid database.
 17. The system according to claim 13 wherein: saidpatient that has not qualified for said specific medical treatment isnotified that they did not meet the qualifications for said specificmedical treatment.